USA > Tennessee > Shelby County > Memphis > The Old Guard in Gray. Researches in the Annals of the Confederate Historical Association. Sketches of Memphis veterans who upheld her standards in the war, and of other Confederate worthies.. > Part 20
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ordered the charge, which was promptly and successfully executed as to the camp and battery, and I suppose at least one thousand prisoners were taken." Colonel Looney, in con-
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. COL. ROBERT F. LOONEY At Richmond in 1863.
cluding his report of the two days' engagement, says: "I delivered the last volley to the enemy on Monday." Of the distinguished gallantry of Colonel Looney in this battle the captains of the companies composing the Thirty-eighth Ten- nessee Regiment, in a published account under date of April 8, 1862, say :
"Our regiment, the Thirty-eighth Tennessee, commanded by Colonel Robert F. Looney, was engaged the 6th and 7th. During the whole engagement our colonel was at his post, riding up and down the line, encouraging and urging on his men, and doing even more than might have been expected of a veteran hero. On Monday, the 7th, it became necessary to drive back the enemy and hold a position for a certain time. Our regiment was ordered to the charge. It advanced under a heavy and devouring cross-fire. Our colonel was every- 17
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where, doing everything. His men were encouraged by his bold and fearless conduct. The fire became terrific. Some- times the line would stop and stagger back like a strong ship when smitten by a wave. Then our leader, despising danger and contemning death, with one hand pointing to the colors still flying in the breeze, would shout, Forward! Still press on !"
An old soldier, writing, recalls this charge when the gallant colonel seized the colors in his hand and, riding to the front, told the men to follow him and the flag. The brigade com- mander, Colonel Preston Pond, in his official report, compli- ments Colonel Looney for his coolness and intrepidity. Col. Looney's regiment was not in General Polk's Corps, and is, therefore, not mentioned in his official report, but General Polk complimented him and his men on the field for gallant and valuable services.
General Marcus J. Wright, in his War Records, says : " Among the many Tennessee commands which were conspic- uous for gallantry at the battle of Shiloh, none won more laurels than the Thirty-eighth Tennessee, commanded by Col- onel R. F. Looney." Colonel Looney later in the war was taken prisoner, and being exchanged he reported to General Pemberton. When hostilities were over he returned to the practice of his profession, the law, but after a few years he became interested in various enterprises ; he has always taken an active interest in politics, exerting powerful influence and laboring for party and friend ; he is now one of the commis- sioners appointed by the government to make a great national park of the Shiloh battlefield.
LOUDON, MILTON B., commander of the steamboats Granite State, Q. L. Hyatt and Keokuk ; was the second son of John London, and entered the Confederate service at the age of 23 years, in Captain Wicks' cavalry company. His first engagement was Perryville, Ky .; was in every important battle afterward; attached to General Wheeler's command ; served throughout the war; died of yellow fever on board of his boat Keokuk in 1873; buried at the London vault, Elm- wood Cemetery.
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LOUDON, HOPKINS, third and youngest son of John Loudon and Minerva Trowbridge Loudon ; born in Cincinnati, O .; graduated at Woodward High School, Cincinnati, O .; in 1861 came to Memphis ; entered the Confederate service on his father's boat, Granite State ; was ordered with his boat to Little Rock, Ark., via Arkansas river, loaded with Confed- erate government stores ; boated in the government service until Little Rock and Pine Bluff fell. Knowing that the capture of the boat was only a question of time, he sunk her at Silver Lake and then set fire to her upper works ; he had removed her bell, which was a large and valuable one. At the close of the war his father, John Loudon, presented it to St. Patrick's Church, where its silvery tones are heard all over Memphis to this day. After the destruction of the boat he entered Company G, Captain Gillespie's cavalry ; was with General Price in his raid through Missouri and Kansas, and in all the battles of that arduous campaign ; at close of the war returned to his home at Memphis, and now resides in Kansas City, Mo.
MAURY. RICHARD B., born in Georgetown, D. C., Feb- ruary 5, 1834, but grew up at Fredericksburg, Va .; gradu- ated in several schools of the University of Virginia, and last of all in medicine; afterward took the degree of M.D. in the University of New York. After a hospital career went to Natchez, Miss., and after recovering his impaired health engaged in the practice of medicine at Port Gibson, Miss. He entered the Confederate service as Surgeon of the Twenty- eighth Mississippi Cavalry. After one year of hard service was transferred to hospital duty, and remained in charge of hospitals until the close of the war. In 1867 Dr. Maury removed to Memphis, where he has since enjoyed a large practice. He is a member of various societies and has con- tributed largely to medical journals. His family history is exceedingly interesting. M. F. Maury of the United States Navy was his second cousin, and after his father's death be- came his guardian, as well as true friend and kind adviser. Dr. Maury was first married in Port Gibson, Miss., to Miss Jane T. Ellett, daughter of Hon. Henry T. Ellett. They had
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a family of six children ; his wife died in Memphis in 1875. His second wife was Miss Jennie B. Poston of Memphis, and they have several children.
McGUIRE, WM. EUGENE, born of Virginia ancestry, November 17, 1839, in Christian county, Ky. . He joined Com- pany A, First Kentucky Cavalry, commanded by Colonel Ben. Hardin Helm, a brother-in-law of President Lincoln ; was appointed chief of scouts at Florence, forty picked men, and watched the movements of Grant's and Buell's armies ; was elected first lieutenant of his old company, but he was retained in the scouting service until the end of the war. He had many narrow escapes and thrilling experiences. He served with General Forrest in the Georgia campaign, and was with the last fragments of Johnston's army of grizzled and tattered veterans until it, with the executive department of the lost Confederacy, surrendered at Washington, Ga.
After the surrender Captain McGuire engaged in business. in Christian county, Ky., and there met Miss Lula Lawrence of Memphis, and afterward married her and removed to this city. Her family came to Memphis from Virginia in 1818, and was of the same family as Commodore James Lawrence of " Don't give up the ship" fame.
MALLORY, W. B., was born in Hanover county. Va .. and previous to the war was Captain of the Monticello Guards at Charlottesville, and by order of the governor took this com- pany to Charleston as a guard to represent the State and pre- serve the peace, and was there in that capacity when John Brown was executed. When the war broke out Captain Mallory, in command of the same company, with the Albe- marle Rifles of Charlottesville and about one hundred students of the University of Virginia, left Charlottesville the night of April 8 ; went to Harper's Ferry by order of Governor John Letcher, reaching that place on April 19, the State having passed the ordinance of secession on the 16th, which was to be promulgated the next day ; remained two weeks ; was then ordered back to equip his company ; in ten days the Guards were ready and reported at Culpepper Courthouse, where the Nineteenth Virginia Regiment was organized, and of which
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CAPT. W. B. MALLORY.
Captain Mallory's command was the senior company. He served in the field for twelve months and then was ordered to take command of the post at Charlottesville and be provost marshal, upon the ground that he could be of more service there than with the army. This was a strategic point of great importance, and many efforts were made to take it. Captain Mallory remained there in command until near the close of the war. No Federal troops reached the place until March, 1865. Captain Mallory, with a small force partly recruited from the hospitals, took a decisive part in averting the raid made by General Custer. It was not until March, just before the surrender, that General Sheridan passed through from the valley to the rear of General Lee's army at Petersburg. Of this movement Captain Mallory kept General Lee informed daily until General Sheridan crossed to the south side of James river. Captain Mallory had an opportunity to surren-
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der at Appomattox. but started south ; feeling further resist- ance or flight useless. he accepted the situation and surren- dered a few days later. Soon after the war he came to Mem- phis, embarked in mercantile life and was pre-eminently suc- cessful. He has a palatial home. has a large family, and is fully identified with the business affairs and best social life of the city. Joined the C. H. A. June 13, 1894. and was a staff officer with the rank of colonel at the inter-State drill held in Memphis in 1895.
MARTIN. HUGH BRADSHAW. son of William Pitt Martin and Martha Harris Bradshaw : born in Columbia. Tenn., August 9. 1838 : his father. W. P. Martin, was a bril- liant lawyer, a jurist. a man of infinite wit and great personal magnetism ; at the age of 21 Mr. Martin began the practice of law in Memphis, where two years later he was married to Miss Ruth Talbot. and two weeks after he joined Forrest's cavalry. He was soon promoted to the position of ordnance officer on the staff of General Forrest. where he served two years, 1862-63 ; in the latter part of 1863 he was transferred to the staff of General Starnes, who was soon after killed at Shelbyville. General Dibbrell succeeded to the command : with him Captain Martin remained till the close of the war. A machinist by the name of Casey, in the ordnance depart- ment, became very much attached to Captain Martin and made him at the ordinary forge a beautiful pair of spurs and a bridle bit with a star made of a silver dollar. These me- mentoes of affection in the times that tried men's souls are yet preserved in the family. and grow more valuable as the years go by. During the battles of Shiloh. Murfreesboro. Chickamauga. Franklin, and the later terrible struggles. Cap- tain Martin was at his post. After the surrender. Dibbrell's Brigade, with others. was selected as an escort to President Davis and his Cabinet when seeking a place of safety ; Dib- brell's men did not. however. remain in this service ; the force was already so large that it rendered secrecy impossible. When leaving the President's escort General Dibbrell's com- mand was paid in coin. the last disbursement by the Confed- erate States of America. Captain Martin kept this money
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CAPT. HUGH B. MARTIN.
in his possession as an heirloom for his children. General Dibbrell joined General Joe Johnston in North Carolina, where he surrendered. Captain Martin returned to Memphis and resumed the practice of law ; he was a man of splendid personal appearance, with a heart filled with gentleness and kindness to the whole world ; his nature was as genial as the springtime that wakes in beauty all the flowers ; and he died a few years ago lamented by a devoted wife, loving sons and daughters and hundreds of sincere friends.
MERIWETHER, MINOR, was born in Christian county, Ky., January 15, 1827; his father was Garrett Minor Meri- wether, of Louisa county, Va., and his mother was Ann Minor, of Orange county, Va. ; he is of Welsh and Dutch descent, mixed with Scotch through the Douglas. A paternal Welsh ancestor of the eighth generation back settled in Surrey coun-
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ty, Va., in 1652; a maternal ancestor, Doodes Minor, of the seventh generation back. came from Holland in 1675 and set- tled in Urbana, Middlesex county, Va. If Minor Meriwether has any special ancestral pride it is on account of his Dutch ancestors, who for a century resisted the despotism of Spain and aided in establishing the Republic of the United Nether- lands, as well as in other great improvements. He was edu- cated at the Tennessee University, Nashville, for a civil engi- neer, and afterward had charge of important engineer work in construction of the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad. In 1852 he married Miss Elizabeth Avery of Memphis; removed to this city, and as chief engineer mainly located and con- structed the Memphis & Grenada Railroad ; after that was Chief Engineer of the Mississippi River Levees from the Ten- nessee line to the mouth of the Yazoo. When the war began he closed up and dropped this work, and reporting to General Polk, assisted in constructing defensive works at Columbus, Island 10 and Fort Pillow, holding a quasi commission as Major of Engineers. He was afterward commissioned by Pres- ident Davis as Major of Engineers, and later as Lieutenant- Colonel of Engineers. In April, 1861, the city of Memphis appropriated $25,000 for defense and appointed General Jos. R. Williams, W. A. Bickford and Minor Meriwether a com- mittee to construct works on the river to prevent the descent of Federal gunboats and transports. The field work devolved upon Major Meriwether ; he constructed Fort Harris above Memphis and was in the long and heavy bombardments of Fort Pillow, Island 10 and Columbus by gunboats and mortar fleets ; he aided in the construction of works around Corinth ; served on the staff of General Leonidas Polk in the battle of Shiloh ; on the staff of General Price at Iuka, September, 1862, and Hatchie bridge in October, 1862 ; in the latter part of that year laid out and constructed fortifications at Grenada and at Abbeville, on the Tallahatchie river. Being famil- iar with the country he foresaw the attempt to send gunboats and transports through Moon lake and Yazoo Pass and on through a network of rivers to Haines' Bluff, where an army could attack Vicksburg from the rear, and he warned General
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MAJ. MINOR MERIWETHER At the Age of 38.
Pemberton of the danger. General Pemberton was advised otherwise. In January, 1863, when the floods came, the Fed- erals cut the Pass levee and rode into Moon lake with their gunboats and transports and commenced the descent; too late Major Meriwether was ordered to Greenwood to sink steamboats and blockade the fleet ; the water was too deep to render this effectual ; the major erected defenses at Fort Pem- berton, sank the Star of the West, an ocean steamer, and placed batteries in position ; General Loring was in command of less than 1500 men ; the Federals had over 15.000 and heavy batteries ; General Grant cut the large levees on the Mississippi and the Confederates were well nigh drowned out ; many were taken sick, and toward the end Major Meriwether was the only one of the engineer corps able for duty ; yet the Confederates, weak, sick and worn out, held on, and the great movement to invest Vicksburg by that route was abandoned,
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and General Grant ultimately made the attack from below. After the fall of Vicksburg Major Meriwether was ordered to Florida to assist in an important railroad connection and was brought under the immediate command of General J. F. Gil- mer, Chief Engineer of the Army ; later he was under con- mand of General Richard Taylor, and was surrendered under him at Meridian in May, 1865.
Major Meriwether returned to Memphis and resumed the labors of his profession successfully and eventually adopted the profession of law, for which he had been prepared before the war; he took an active part in public affairs and was appointed receiver for the old municipality of Memphis, in- volving great labor and heavy litigation. This being concluded to the satisfaction of the taxpayers and people at large, he resigned some years ago and removed with his family to St. Louis, where he is now engaged in the practice of the law and is as busy as ever. He was one of the early members of the Confederate Relief and Historical Association, and was for some years its secretary and treasurer.
MATHES, GEORGE ANDERSON, second son of Rev. William Alfred Mathes, was born near Dandridge, Jefferson county, East Tennessee, October 25, 1844 ; ran off from home and enlisted in Company I, Thirty-seventh Tennessee Regi- ment, Carroll's Brigade, at Knoxville, in the latter part of 1861 ; was a delicate youth and had never known many hard- ships ; marched to Mill Springs, Ky., and was in at the end of the battle of Fishing creek January 19, 1862; after the battle of Shiloh was in Marmaduke's Brigade ; was in the battle of Farmington and in minor engagements ; fell back to Tupelo and was sick there ; was physically unable to go with Bragg's army into Kentucky ; was in the battle of Murfrees- boro December 31, 1862 ; became a non-commissioned officer ; was in the battles of Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge; was in winter quarters at Dalton, Ga. ; in the campaign from Dalton to Atlanta. On July 20, 1864, on the Peachtree creek road, in a heavy engagement at close quarters, he was shot through the right arm by a minie ball and would have bled to death but for the prompt attention of his older brother, a
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DR. GEO. A. MATHES.
staff officer, who happened to be on the line. The arm was. tied up and the wounded youth sent to the rear. His arm was disabled for life and he performed no more active field service. After the surrender he attended college for a year or two, read medicine, took a course at a medical college and began practice, but turned his attention to newspaper life ; became one of the editors of the Somerville Falcon ; married Miss Mary English Dulin at Calvary Episcopal Church in Memphis in the fall of 1873; removed to Brownsville and successfully published and edited the States and States and Bee, but his health failed him, and after testing the climates of Texas and Florida he returned and died in Memphis at the home of his brother, July 31, 1881. His wife had died seven months before him. They left three little girls, Mary D., Viola Belle and Georgie Bolton, who have since grown up to womanhood. Dr. Mathes was a man of decided talent and popularity; he was cut off'in the midst of success and usefulness.
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MOYSTON, JOIIN H., born in Wheeling, Va., in 1842; came of Revolutionary ancestry ou both sides of the house, and has a most interesting family history, being on his moth- er's side a descendant of Oliver Cromwell, and running back several centuries ; enlisted, at Harper's Ferry May 17, 1861, in the Shriver Grays, Twenty-seventh Virginia, which after- ward composed a part of the Stonewall Brigade. His first engagement was at Falling Waters, six miles from Martins- burg ; then went to Manassas and was in the first battle there ; was in the campaign under Jackson, and was in all the prin- cipal battles under him, some thirty or forty in number ; was in the battles of Seven Pines, at Fredericksburg, at Gettys- burg, Sharpsburg, Cedar Mountain, and was wounded in the second battle of Manassas and in other battles, and served throughout the war without ever seeing his home ; served as orderly with General Stonewall Jackson about two years and attended his funeral at Lexington ; was captured near Knox- ville, where his regiment was attempting to come to reinforce Longstreet ; was sent to Rock Island prison ; was exchanged in a few months and returned to Richmond at the time of the surrender ; attempted to reach Johnston's army in North Car- olina, and failing in this Mr. Moyston and eleven others, with- out being paroled, chartered a forty-ton lumber boat at New Orleans, hid in the hold and had the captain to clear for some distant port and made direct for Vera Cruz, and went to Cor- dova. Mr. Moyston remained in Mexico nearly four years and became a naturalized Mexican citizen and superintendent of a copper mine ; then returned home and to Memphis about the year 1869 and has since lived here ; married here Miss Anna Auer, a Baltimorean, and has three children, Blanche, Guy and Roy. Joined the C. H. A. at an early day and has always been an earnest, enthusiastic member. Mr. Moyston was conspicuous as a Knight of Pythias at the post of duty in the great epidemic of 1873 and rendered valuable services in other years, and has in every way proved himself as good a citizen as he was a daring, intrepid soldier. He is an enthu- siastic admirer of the late President Davis, whom he knew personally, and whose portrait, splendidly painted in oil by
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JOHN H. MOYSTON.
a New York artist, he not long since caused to be presented through his children to the Confederate Historical Association.
OMBERG, JAMES A., born at Lawrenceville, Ga., in 1839. His paternal ancestors came from Norway in the early part of the present century and settled in Georgia. His mother's ancestors came from the north of Ireland in the eighteenth century and became citizens of South Carolina. He prepared for a university course. Preferring a commercial life, how- ever, he accepted at an early age a position as clerk in the Bank of Chattanooga with his uncle, William Fulton, the cashier, and soon succeeded to the position of teller of the Commercial Bank of Memphis. When the war broke out he promptly enlisted in Company A, Shelby Grays, Fourth Ten- nessee, from which he was soon transferred to the commissary headquarters of his brigade and division, remaining therein until the surrender with the army in North Carolina in April,
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1865. In 1879 he became cashier of the Bank of Commerce, and has held the position ever since. Mr. Omberg was mar- ried in 1867 to Miss Eliza Graham, of an old. and prominent family of Memphis. They have four children.
OUTTEN, WILLIAM T., was born September 26, 1840, in Baltimore, Md .; was present at the riot April 19, 1861; remained until Butler took possession of Annapolis, Md. ; was mustered into Confederate service in May, 1861, in Cap- tain J. Lyle Clark's company of Baltimore, Twenty-first Vir- ginia Regiment, and went to West Virginia with Generals Lee and Loring ; joined Jackson December, 1861 ; was under Jackson in the winter campaign to Bath, Hancock and Ram- sey ; saw much of General Loring and of Bishop Quintard, then with that command; was with Jackson at Kernstown, April, 1862; was a member of the Second Maryland Regi- ment ; was organized in September, 1862, and operated inde- pendently until the Pennsylvania campaign ; was with Stew- art's Brigade, Johnston's Division, Ewell's Corps; was slightly wounded at Gettysburg ; was at Cold Harbor June, 1864; in the several battles around Petersburg ; was present at the breaking through of the Confederate lines ; was wounded there and taken to a hospital at Manchester, opposite Rich- mond, and captured there; was paroled with thirteen others. Mr. Outten has been living in Memphis or vicinity since 1871, and is one of the very few Maryland ex-Confederates to be found in this part of the country.
OVERTON, JOHN, JR., born in Davidson county, Tenn., April 27, 1842; grew up on a farm, where his father, Colonel John Overton, still resides; attended the common schools until fifteen years of age; then went to school two years in Albemarle county, Va., in 1857-58; entered the University of Nashville in 1860 and remained until April, 1861, when he enlisted in Captain Reed's company, Forty-fourth Tennessee Regiment. In 1862 he was transferred to the staff of Brig- adier-General Bushrod Johnston, with the rank of captain ; served with him on the Kentucky campaign and at the bat- tles of Perryville, Murfreesboro and Chickamauga, and minor engagements. When General Forrest was transferred to the
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west, Captain Overton was transferred to his staff with the same rank, and served in all of Forrest's campaigns, includ- ing the raid on Fort Pillow; was at Tupelo and Nashville, and with Hood's army in Tennessee, and finally surrendered with Forrest at Gainesville, Ala., May 13, 1865. He returned to Memphis, where his father had large landed estates, and went into the real estate business on a large scale. Although a wealthy man, he is essentially a man of and for the people. He has been elected to both houses of the Legislature and served with distinction. He was a Commissioner of the Tax- ing District of Memphis. He takes an active interest in poli- tics as a public-spirited citizen, but not for the sake of office, as there is hardly a place within the gift of the people he would accept, unless when special work was needed. He enjoys the fullest confidence and good will of all classes. Captain Overton was married October 23, 1866, to Miss Ma- tilda Watkins of Davidson county, Tenn. They have three children-two sons, who are married, and a young daughter single and in society. The Overtons have been conspicuous and highly connected since the days of the Revolution, and have certainly held their own in public and private affairs, in war and in peace.
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